Manchester United blame Donald Trump's policies for its biggest loss in seven years

ENGLISH Premiership giants Manchester United have blamed tax cuts by President Donald Trump for a massive drop in its profits from the US that have resulted in it suffering a £29m loss over the last six months of 2017.

Posting its interim profits yesterday, Manchester United suffered its biggest financial loss in nearly eight years as a result of President Trump’s new tax reforms in the US. United were knocked into the red by a non-cash write-off of £48.8m, leading to an overall loss of £29m for the six months to December 31.

This represents Manchester United’s worst results since a third-quarter loss of £65.8m in 2010 and in the same period last year, the club made a profit of £18.7m. Manchester United blamed the loss on President Trump’s tax cuts which have slashed America’s corporation tax rate from among the highest in the west to one of the lowest in the industrialised world.

Since assuming office last year, President Trump has to get the country’s economy moving again, resorting to all kinds of policies, many of which have proven to be impracticable. This has affected many companies worldwide, even those like Man United who only pay a fraction of their taxes in the US.

Cliff Baty, Manchester United's chief financial officer, said: "It’s important to reiterate that it’s a non-cash accounting charge only which has no impact on our financial competitiveness or our ability to meet Financial Fair Play Regulations. United’s overall revenue for the quarter rose 4% to £163.9m, although commercial, sponsorship and matchday revenue were all slightly down."

Man United spent £69.6m on wages and benefits in the final three months of 2017, up £6m on a year earlier, due mainly to player bonuses for reaching the Champions League. Old Trafford chief Ed Woodward claimed that United’s solid business model has enabled them to offer new signing Alexis Sanchez a total of £600,000-a-week and extend manager Jose Mourinho’s contract.

Mr Woodward revealed that the Sanchez deal was already paying off after the Chile star set a new record for shirt sales by a January signing, treble the previous best set by Juan Mata in 2014. Also, the announcement of Sanchez’s move from Arsenal eclipsed Neymar’s transfer from Barcelona to Paris Saint-Germain on social media.

"It was the biggest United post on Instagram with 2m likes and comments, the most shared United Facebook post ever and the most retweeted United post ever – #alexis7 was the number one trending topic on Twitter worldwide. To put that in context, the announcement generated 75% more interaction than the announcement of the sale of the world’s most expensive player last summer when Neymar moved from Barcelona to PSG."